Eight dishes — from chicken fried cactus to fried tres leches cake — have been selected as finalists for Monday’s annual Big Tex Choice Awards, which honor the best new foods at the State Fair of Texas.

Once again, all of the dishes are fried. Foods aren’t required to have a rendezvous with the deep fryer, but getting dunked in a vat of fat tends to be the way to go in order to stick out in the competition.

This year’s finalists also include a fried pork wing, deep fried jambalaya and a deep-fried mac ’n’ cheese slider.

The contest, which began in 2005, names two winners: best taste and most creative. Winning is a big deal for the vendors. The victors are usually guaranteed media buzz and long lines of hungry fairgoers. This year’s fair runs Sept. 28-Oct. 21.

Yes, the list of finalists includes Abel Gonzales Jr., the State Fair’s Fry King. He’s advanced to the Big Tex Choice competition each year that it’s been held. This year, he’s created Deep Fried Jambalaya, a mix of shrimp, Cajun sausage and rice.

The jambalaya is shaped into a ball, dunked into a buttermilk bath and then rolled in seasoned flour and cornmeal. Then it’s off to the deep fryer. But of course.

“I’m just ecstatic,” Gonzales said. “I never think about trying to top myself. That’s not my focus. … Whatever I’m making at the State Fair, I want people to get excited about it. When they try it, I want them to go, ‘Hey, that’s good.’ ”

While some fair vendors may roll their eyes at Gonzales’ string of success, he says they’ve been cordial.

Gonzales is often approached by people who offer ideas about what to enter in the contest. A friend, Matthew Rangel, owner of the Pour House, came up with frying jambalaya. At first, Gonzales was skeptical. He didn’t think it would survive the deep fryer.

But, one day, Gonzales woke up and figured he’d give it a shot.

In June, he started testing the concept. Things got messy. The concoction kept falling apart in the fryer. The jambalaya was too dry.

He realized he had to make the rice stickier. But make it too sticky and “you get a big ol’ bleh ball. It’s just mushy rice.”

The jambalaya would lose its flavoring in the fryer. Gonzales doubled the seasoning so the dish kept its spicy kick.

He tinkered with the product until he had to submit it to State Fair officials for a taste test.

One day, he made five batches so he could fine-tune the recipe. He added more spices and perfected the consistency of the rice. And he ate. And ate. And ate.

“I got sick of jambalaya.”

Then, at 9 p.m., he cooked a product that satisfied him.

“Hey, we’ve got it!” he said.

For Gonzales, 42, there’s more riding on the State Fair than a Big Tex statuette: his livelihood.

Gonzales used to be a computer analyst, but selling his fried goodies has been lucrative enough that he quit his day job a few years ago. So he relies on those long lines of fairgoers — and sunny skies.

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